


pour yourself all over me

by goldflower



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Banter, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining Harry, Pining Niall, Temporarily Unrequited Love, it's complicated - Freeform, louis' weird i'm sorry, niall doesn't like zayn at first it's kind of funny, niall's pretty pissy but still a sweetheart he's secretly fond of everyone, restaurant AU, they're all very good at their jobs go them, they're also from canada in this bc i am and it would be easier u know slang and stuff, this is actually dumb and i apologize but read it anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 10:59:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldflower/pseuds/goldflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Harry laughs his eyes go all squinty and crinkle around the edges and his nose scrunches up too. It’s all so cute and he’s still laughing even though Niall’s not. Niall just wants him to laugh forever because he’s cute when he laughs and happy and that’s all Niall wants: Harry to be happy.</p>
<p>or, a restaurant au that's filled with lots of dumb feelings and dumb boys that are stupidly good at their jobs but barely do it at the same time</p>
            </blockquote>





	pour yourself all over me

**Author's Note:**

> so!!!! i've been working on this monster since like, october. it was horrible i almost cried writing this i was so frustrated hahaha. it was a difficult task of perseverance because i obviously lack that, so it was hard to actually _finish_ this thing and i'm not even sure if i'm fond of it or hate it deeply sigh.
> 
> but either way i hope you enjoy and big thanks to anna for being my beta!!!! 
> 
> oh and i feel oddly obligated to tell you this, but the side pairings are zerrie and elounor, i was just too lazy to tag and other things and also there's this one part that's based off the song trampoline by nevershoutnever and i'm pretty sure it's very obvious which part is, so yeah!! enjoy and all that cuties

Niall’s new boss—Zack or something like that—keeps speaking to him like he’s a child that doesn’t know proper English yet.

 

He very much does, thank you. It’s just that he’s out of breath from running all the damn way here because his stupid alarm didn’t go off and he still has to wear a retainer when he goes to bed from his embarrassing years of having to wear braces as a late teen and, well.

 

He’s nervous too, so he mumbles a lot and _fuck_ , he understood himself at least, so his boss should have been able to too.

 

"Is that clear?” his boss says—rather loudly, might Niall add—enunciating each and every syllable. Still, he nods his head to get his boss out of the room so he can start work on the damn dishes that are piled up to the fucking _ceiling_ and take his retainer out; he remembered to bring his case for it, thank god.

 

When his boss does finally walk out though, he notices he’s actually not alone.

 

"Fresh meat, ace!" the man says from the desk placed in the corner. Niall tries to smile, but he’s sure it comes out more like a grimace than anything. Great, he probably looks like a right prat now. But what the guy said wasn’t that great either, so Niall’s pretty sure it’s fair.

 

"I’m Louis, by the way, hottest guy here, but—" he gives Niall a once over as he stands up and walks over to shake Niall’s hand. "—I think you might change that, Dish Washer."

 

"Uh, thanks?" Niall says. His voice still sounds wonky; he didn’t get to take out his retainer yet. He fucking hates braces. "I’m Niall." He finishes, shaking Louis’ hand.

 

"Zayn’s a fucking idiot, man. I understood you the whole time and Zayn didn’t have a damn clue." Louis starts laughing and Niall feels kind of bad he got his boss’ name wrong, but then he wonders if Louis is even allowed to be talking about him like that. "Anyway, it’s my break so, bye!"

 

And then he’s gone and Niall _finally_ takes out his damn retainer before getting started on the dishes.

 

It might take a while.

 

——

 

Turns out it actually didn’t take a while and Niall is sitting at Louis’ desk (he honestly has no clue what Louis’ job is? Why does he have a desk?) about twenty minutes after when a boy walks in wearing a fancy white dress shirt and an apron.

 

He’s also chewing on something, Niall figures, because he swallows whatever it is and makes a gagging noise when he looks to the sink and counter.

 

"What the fuck happened!?" The guy yells eyes wide, face red and Niall’s just glad he’s able to breathe. He is _not_ good at CPR, sadly. Niall glances over his shoulder lazily at the clean counters and shrugs.

 

"I put the dishes in the dishwasher and washed some at the same time."

 

"But you’re the dishwasher." The guy says, pointing at Niall who, in return, rolls his eyes.

 

"Yes, but there’s a perfectly good _mechanical_ dishwasher right there, yeah?” Niall says. He really hopes that his job doesn’t entitle him to being called Dish Washer. It’s honestly stupid since they have a fairly sweet looking dishwasher like, _right there._ But the guy still looks confused as he looks from the dishwasher to Niall again.

 

"Yeah, alright, I’m Harry. Head waiter, and I’m like, pretty fucking awesome at waitering? That’s why I’m—yeah, um, what’s your name?"

 

"I’m Niall." He says with a smile on his lips. "I wash the dishes and judging by your face, I’m pretty fucking awesome at what I do too."

 

Harry blushes and stutters out a whole lot of nothing before turning and walking out the doors right before the last load in the washer buzzes.

 

——

 

"You talked to Harry!" Louis shouts when he walks into the back room after his break. It scares the living shit out of Niall and he yells and drops the fork he was rinsing back into the dirty sink water.

 

"Fuck, Louis. Yes I talked to Harry. So?" Niall mutters while grumpily re-rinsing the fork. So many people walked in to meet the new "Dish Washer" and they all called him that and he hates his job already so he’s not in the best mood to be honest.

 

"He’s like top dog here, honestly. He never comes back here, ever, so you must be special." Louis says while wagging his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

 

Okay, no. Niall found out five minutes after he walked out—Harry had come back in to explain—that Harry was sent by Zayn to check if he at least understood what he had to do since Zayn didn’t think he spoke English.

 

Harry ended up finding out that Zayn’s an idiot and that Niall speaks English _and_ understands his job. Harry’s little task was done like three minutes after he was told to do it.

 

Niall just scoffs at Louis’ stupidity. He probably shouldn’t be insulting his coworkers and employers in his head as much as he is, but fuck, he’s annoyed, alright. Besides, Niall’s not that special. He washes dishes in a four star restaurant for Christ’s sake.

 

Just when Niall’s about to explain to him that he’s completely and embarrassingly wrong, Harry walks in and sits on the counter beside Niall next to the sink.

 

"Um—" Niall starts and looks with wide eyes from Harry to Louis who is just about as shocked as he is. Louis’ shock passes quicker than Niall’s, however, and he’s clasping his hands together.

 

"Right, I’m gonna play solitaire." Louis decides and presses his face to the screen of his bulky old computer. _What is his job anyway?_

 

Niall looks to Harry who’s smiling a little bit and swinging his legs cutely back and forth.

 

"What are you doing back here?" Niall finally asks instead of just watching him like an idiot. He bets everyone who works here is an idiot too. Harry laughs at his question.

 

"I’m on break." Harry says with a non-committal shrug and looking down at Niall with a smile and he figures that, yeah, sure, okay, they can hang out then. But like? Doesn’t he have other friends at the restaurant he can spend his break with?

 

He is the head waiter after all.

 

Doesn’t that mean he’s top shit or something? Surely he has tons of friends here.

 

Still, Harry leans back against the wall and asks Niall which part of Canada he’s from.

 

Yeah, they can start with that.

 

——

 

Harry pushes open the swinging doors to the back room with a flourish—and a burp that kind of offends Louis in a way that Niall has no fucking clue of—and walks up behind Niall and flicks his ear.

 

"Y’know each time I come in here you’re either washing, like, five things or not doing anything at all." Harry says and moves to sit in his usual spot—the counter next to the sink. He’s been coming in everyday during his break—which is basically every ten minutes and Niall doesn’t understand how he’s the head waiter _if he never works_ —ever since Niall started working here, much to Louis’ delight.

 

Same for Niall, yeah, just—not like Louis’ delight. He’s all star struck and amazed by Harry’s presence and Niall kind of.

 

He appreciates it, but, Harry’s just a head waiter who’s always on break— _again_ Niall doesn’t understand.

 

"Yeah, because people come here to fucking eat and I get to wash up after them. It happens a lot, y’know, _it is a restaurant.”_ Niall replies as he rinses the soap off his hands before drying them on a rag. Harry laughs a bit.

 

"I know that, you dick. It’s just you’re so quick at it, I don’t get it?" Harry explains with a shrug and Niall looks at him.

 

"Well you’re always on break and I don’t get that." Harry laughs again and before he can reply, Zayn walks in and he immediately drops down from the counter.

 

It’s fucking weird and Niall still doesn’t understand Harry.

 

Zayn smiles a bit at Harry and Niall before he glances over at Louis and his smile disappears.

 

"Ugh, fuck Louis! Not at work!" Zayn yells before hitting him in the back of the head. Turns out Louis and Zayn are best friends and Louis needed a job and Zayn owned a restaurant and well. Yeah.

 

"What? Gay sex scares you?" Louis asks, laughing like a fucking maniac as he tries to hit Zayn back and fails, ending up in a headlock from Zayn.

 

"Harry I need you to get back to work." Zayn says while Louis keeps trying to scratch at his face. It’s actually quite comical and Niall tries to hide his laughter behind his hand.

 

But when Harry nods enthusiastically and leaves without saying bye— _and fifteen whole fucking minutes of his break left_ —Niall stops laughing.

 

Louis cries mercy finally and Zayn lets him go with a laugh.

 

——

 

So Niall’s pretty fucking confused as to why Harry’s always so willing to do everything Zayn says.

 

Like, Niall does what Zayn tells him to also, but that’s because Zayn’s his _boss_ and he’s not as happy about it as Harry always is.

 

It’s confusing is what it is.

 

Louis is off on his break—why doesn’t Niall get a break?—and he’s bored because he finished all the dishes twenty minutes ago and no new dirty ones have come in yet and…

 

Wait, that’s why he doesn’t get a break, it makes sense now.

 

All Niall can really do is play solitaire on Louis’ computer or play with the dirty dish water, which he most certainly does not want to do. Did he ever mention he hates his job?

 

But then Harry walks in and sits on the counter in his usual spot and looks at Niall in the corner. Niall rests his chin on the palm of his hand and looks back at Harry. They don’t say anything; just kind of watch each other.

 

"You have really pretty eyes, you know that?" Harry says after a few minutes pass and well. Niall never really knew that because not many people have told him and he hasn’t looked at his eyes long enough to form his own opinion of them either. But yeah, he’ll take the compliment.

 

"Thanks, you have wicked curls." Niall says back and Harry smiles. It’s easy, just them two. But Niall’s still bored as heck.

 

And then Zayn walks in and Niall wants to know why the place with the sink is the new place for everyone to be all the time. Yeah he’s bored, but he barely knows Zayn and it’s weird to hang out with his boss.

 

He feels like a teacher’s pet, okay?

 

And Niall wants to roll his eyes about it to his _friend_ —yeah they’ve gotten to that—but Harry’s off the counter again and fixing his hair.

 

Yeah that’s new.

 

Harry smiles at Zayn all pretty-like and it’s adorable, really, but Niall doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand why he’s blushing or why he’s throwing literal fucking heart eyes at Zayn…wait.

 

Zayn throws his arm around Harry’s shoulders and it’s all so casual but Niall can literally see the butterflies fluttering about in Harry’s stomach. They’re talking about something Niall doesn’t really care for, but he keeps watching with his eyebrows furrowed and then Zayn’s walking away with a snap in Harry’s direction and he sees Harry eat it up.

 

"Oh." Niall says when Zayn’s fully out of the room. _Oh._

 

Harry looks at him and his smile fades and his eyes get as huge as saucers and then—

 

"Please don’t tell anyone!" Harry shouts taking a step towards Niall.

 

"I won’t."

 

"I mean not many people know I’m gay, only a few people on the Internet do, but I didn’t even know I was gay until I realized I _really_ liked Zayn and—" Harry starts rambling and Niall just watches him as he starts pacing back and forth.

 

"It’s okay." Niall tells him but he’s pretty sure Harry doesn’t hear him.

 

"He has a girlfriend, god dammit, she’s beautiful too and perfect for him and gosh, they look so perfect! But you can’t tell anyone, not at all, _especially_ that I’m gay because I want to tell people when I’m ready—"

 

"It’s okay I’m gay too." He offers in an effort to _shut him up._

 

"Because you can only imagine how pissed my mom would be if she had to find out by—wait what?" Harry says, stopping in his tracks to fully look at Niall.

 

"I won’t tell anyone." Niall shrugs.

 

"No, the other thing."

 

"Oh, that I’m gay?" Niall asks, raising his eyebrows.

 

"Yeah! What?" Harry says making faces to go along with what he said and it makes Niall smile a bit.

 

"Yeah I’m gay too." He says with a nod.

 

"But I thought—?"

 

"That I was straight? Nah, I thought you were so that’s why I talked about how ‘hot’ Jade and Jesy are with ya at first, but then when I did you shied away so I didn’t because I thought you didn’t like talking about girls like that, but turns out that’s not it." Niall says to explain the times he talked about Jade and Jesy with Harry.

 

It was really awkward for the both of them, honestly and Niall felt really dirty because Jade is a super lovely girl that makes a fucking fantastic baked apple dumplin dish and wears a ripped Mini Mouse shirt under her work shirt almost every day. (She spent a break with him and Harry once and she had taken off her work shirt and Niall noticed it from then on. He thinks it’s cute.)

 

And Jesy is one of the waitresses with a dirty mind and a dirty mouth, also, but she’s absolutely wonderful to be around and didn’t call Niall ‘Dish Washer’ when she visited him his first day and he felt like he should’ve burnt his tongue for talking about her breasts.

 

He really regrets doing that.

 

"So you literally just found out?" Harry asks, sounding so relieved.

 

"Yup." Niall says and Harry smiles at him.

 

——

 

Alright, so, Louis has an amazing bum.

 

A really amazing bum and maybe Niall always stares at it when he gets up to leave or when he comes back or those spontaneous times when he decides that right then is the perfect time for him to start his workout.

 

Each time he stares at it, Harry’s right beside him and he always elbows Niall in the ribs and it hurts. Harry’s basically just bones and tattoos, Niall admits to himself.

 

Still though, when Louis stretches, Niall gets a fantastic view of his butt and well. He stares and Harry catches him again and pokes Niall in the cheek before telling him to ask Louis out.

 

"No!" Niall whisper-shouts because Louis is literally _right there._

 

"Why not?" Harry asks—more like whines. He’s honestly five years old.

 

"I just—no." Niall says shaking his head.

 

"But why not? You two will look so cute together!" Harry says louder and Niall hits him with the rag he’s holding in hopes of getting him to quiet down.

 

"I don’t like him like that okay? I just think he has a nice bum." Niall explains because _honestly._ Can’t he look at someone’s ass without having to ask the person out?

 

"He really does have a nice ass, doesn’t he?"

 

"Hell yeah I do." Louis says and Harry laughs so hard he snorts and Niall’s face turns a bright red.

 

Niall really hates his job.

 

——

 

But, okay, Harry actually checks out a lot of the other workers and a lot of other workers check Harry out too and it’s like…

 

It’s a thing.

 

And Niall finds it kind of funny and good for Harry because Zayn’s taken. He needs someone who isn’t to like so he won’t get his poor little heart broken any more than it already does each time Zayn mentions Perrie. Niall was told the whole sob story at one point and learned all the names and who’s who.

 

"Ask him out." Niall whispers after he elbows Harry in the side when he catches him checking out the new garbage boy—his name is Luke and he’s a fucking skyscraper—one day. It’s nice being on the giving end of the teasing for once because Harry still won’t let up with the whole Louis-having-a-nice-bum thing.

 

Harry’s head snaps in Niall’s direction though and Niall flinches, his arms coming up to protect his chest and he laughs at the glare Harry’s giving him. It’s about as intimidating as a seven year olds.

 

They tease each other a lot about guys, actually. It’s pretty darn hilarious and makes Niall feel all giddy, especially when Harry starts to blush and squishes Niall’s cheeks together as a form of payback.

 

"Why woo’t ya just hit meh." Niall asks when Harry squeezes his cheeks again after he made a joke about him and Luke being like a really cliché fairytale about the prince falling for a commoner just now. It was one of Niall’s best jokes, if he’s being honest.

 

"Because you’re too pretty to hit." Harry says sweetly and Niall pushes his hand away.

 

"Yeah, yeah, don’t you have a job to actually do?" Niall asks as he goes back to loading the dishwasher and Harry looks at the clock.

 

"Nah, I’ve ten more minutes of my break left." Of course. Niall still doesn’t know why Harry has so many breaks though.

 

"God, look at him. He’s so pretty." Harry whines and Niall turns from the dishwasher to look out the window in the doors that Harry’s looking out of too even though he already knows exactly who Harry is talking about.

 

Zayn _is_ pretty, Niall must admit, and that’s what sucks about it.

 

Because Harry’s all sorts of wonderful and Zayn is this beautiful human being with this kind heart that’s so fucking fond of everyone he hires--even Niall who’s not that big a fan of him—which is no help for Harry getting over him.

 

And Niall’s heart breaks a little each time Harry talks about him because he’s so far gone for him and Zayn won’t ever like him back.

 

Unrequited love can go suck a dick for all Niall cares.

 

"You’re prettier." Niall says when he turns back around without really thinking and Harry ‘awe’s’ beside him.

 

"You’re sweet."

 

"Oh, you’re sweet, aw, aw, Niall suck my dick, awww." Louis says from the doorway in a mocking voice and Niall snickers.

 

"Fuck off, Lou; you’re just jealous Harry likes me more." Niall says before starting the dishwasher.

 

"Yeah I am jealous. Why can’t _I_ have someone with a high title dig me?" Louis says as he sits in his chair.

 

Harry laughs and Niall thinks that yeah, that’s good. He should laugh. Like all the time. He has a pretty laugh.

 

A really pretty face too, wow.

 

Harry’s just all sorts of pretty and it makes Niall feel fuzzy.

 

"Um, excuse me, Niall? Could you, like, stop staring at your boyfriend for, maybe, five minutes so you can hear this amazing story I’m trying to tell?" Louis says and Niall blushes.

 

He didn’t mean to be staring, but Harry’s pretty and he’s looking at Niall with this knowing smirk, but neither of them seem to be making any move to correct Louis on his stupid “mistake”. Niall knows he said it on purpose, that fucking shithead.

 

And he’s embarrassed and he hates Louis.

 

——

 

Harry takes Niall out for ice cream on his lunch break two days later.

 

It’s some cute little shop stuffed in between an old book store and a guitar shop. Apparently it used to be a candy store, but they never got that much business. Harry joked about only the workers loved ones literally being the only customers but Niall has a feeling that that could possibly be the truth.

 

Still, it’s cute and they have Niall’s favourite ice cream that he used to always get as a kid.

 

"I haven’t had Super Kid in so long, Jesus. Thank you Harry, I love you so much." Niall says as they’re walking away from the counter. Harry smiles at him and holds the door open for him to pass through.

 

"Love you too, Peaches." Harry mumbles as he follows him out. Niall blushes at the nickname.

 

Harry gave it to him a few days back when they were sitting on the counter together; Niall with his head in Harry’s lap and Harry’s fingers running through his hair. He was tired and the room was really warm, so of course his cheeks were very much pink.

 

"Your cheeks are pink." He had said and Niall lazily opened one eye to look at him.

 

"Yeah and your hair is brown. M’cheeks are always pink." Niall had replied with before closing his eyes again and Harry breathed out a laugh.

 

"They are, aren’t they?" Harry had asked and Niall made a noise in the back of his throat in agreement.

 

And then he decided to call Niall ‘Peaches’ because of his cheeks and, well, it’s not a bad thing really. It’s quite adorable, actually.

 

"So where’re we going, then?" Niall asks between licks of his ice cream and Harry looks at him with a smirk.

 

"It’s a surprise." Is all he says in return and Niall kind of wants to flick him on the nose. Why can’t he just tell Niall? Not everything has to be a damn surprise and he just very much likes to know where he’s going.

 

But he still follows Harry onto the city bus that takes them a little ways across town. At one of the stops too many people come on and it frightens Niall a bit because he has claustrophobia and it’s really packed and tight. He’s breathing heavy and his grip on the cone is so tight he’s scared it’s going to break, but before he even thinks about it he grabs onto Harry’s hand and interlocks their fingers and holds tight.

 

Harry doesn’t say anything, just glances at him before squeezing Niall’s hand a bit and rubbing his thumb against the blonde’s knuckles. It’s actually really comforting and Niall focuses on that until it gets to their stop and Harry leads them out.

 

Harry never lets go of Niall’s hand.

 

They walk in silence for a block or two before turning a corner. They’re met with a neighbourhood that looks cute and quaint and really nice.

 

"What are we doing here?" Niall asks. Somewhere along the way he decided to ditch the cone even though he really wanted it. (He wrote down the name of the ice cream shop in his phone so he thinks he’ll just go back another day.)

 

"This is where I live." Harry says and Niall stops—causing Harry to stop too because they’re still holding hands and Niall won’t admit it, but he doesn’t want to let go—and raises an eyebrow at the kid.

 

"You’re taking me home? Jeez, Haz, you could’ve taken me on a date first…" Harry opens his mouth to say something, but the smug look he has on his face makes Niall catch on. "No, the ice cream shop doesn’t fucking count!" Harry starts giggling and presses a hand against Niall’s mouth and tries shushing him at the same time.

 

It’s kind of difficult and funny and stupid, but then Harry’s pressing his face against Niall’s shoulder and keeps giggling there and it’s not stupid anymore. Not at all.

 

"God, shut up, you’re an idiot." Harry says after he’s stopped laughing and they continue on walking.

 

Harry’s apartment is cute; it has a green door with white shutters on the windows and Niall really likes it. But before he can really see the inside, Harry’s pulling him right through the house and to the back yard.

 

No fucking way.

 

Harry has a fucking trampoline.

 

Niall hasn’t played on a trampoline in years and he really likes this, feels like he’s twelve again, and thinks he should spend his lunches with Harry more often.

 

"Race ya to it!" Niall shouts before running off the back porch, kicking his shoes off in the process, and heading straight for the trampoline with Harry not far behind.

 

They both roll onto the trampoline and fall into the middle with a laugh, Niall’s cheeks going pink and Harry’s nose scrunching up cutely. They’re facing each other and when Niall realizes how close they actually are, he kind of just stops and watches Harry.

 

When Harry laughs his eyes go all squinty and crinkle around the edges and his nose scrunches up too. It’s all so cute and he’s still laughing even though Niall’s not. Niall just wants him to laugh forever because he’s cute when he laughs and _happy_ and that’s all Niall wants: Harry to be happy.

 

"Since you call me Peaches because of my cheeks, can I call you Cutie Pie then, because you’re really cute?" Niall blurts out before he can stop himself and Harry’s laughter dies down, but a few little giggles still slip out and his cheeks go even redder.

 

 

"Sure." He says and Niall doesn’t feel all that embarrassed anymore.

 

Harry leans over slowly and Niall stops breathing while Harry’s lips press softly against his warm cheek.

 

It surprises Niall because he never expected it, but he doesn’t stop it either. He actually really likes the way Harry’s lips feel against his skin, but before Niall can say or do anything back, Harry shoots up and starts jumping in circles around Niall.

 

He doesn’t get up though; he just lays there watching Harry with this soft smile on his face and sparkling eyes. When Harry goes in to bounce Niall he ends up jumping too close and falls down onto the blonde, both boys letting out a surprised ‘oof’ before laughing.

 

"God, you weigh a ton!" Niall breathes out hard and Harry knees him in the thigh.

 

"I do not!" He says offended and Niall laughs a bit harder while Harry wiggles around to meet his face. "Hey." He breathes when he’s finally looking Niall in the eyes again. Niall stops laughing then and looks in his eyes and feels all warm and bright despite the cool autumn air and he thinks that Harry’s eyes are like sunshine.

 

"Hey." Niall whispers back and they both smile at each other.

 

"Let’s jump." Harry says and Niall nods his head, mumbling out a "yeah" before taking Harry’s hand and standing up to jump around the trampoline.

 

And when Niall looks over and feels fluttering in his stomach when he sees Harry smiling so wide he doesn’t think about it. He doesn’t think about how much he likes holding Harry’s hand or how much he knows that Harry likes Zayn and how much he wishes Harry didn’t so then he could be happy, properly happy and smiling all the time because he’s beautiful all the time, but he’s like the night sky in an empty field when he smiles; breathtaking.

 

And Niall knows, he _knows_ , that Harry’s heart is so thin and fragile and hanging on a fucking thread because of this damn crush he has on Zayn, but he promises himself that he’ll help him find the pieces to put him back together. He doesn’t think about the fact that he wants to be the one who kisses it better when it’s still a little broken.

 

He doesn’t think about the fact that he wants to be the glue that holds his heart back together either.

 

——

 

Okay, but, Niall nearly screams when he realizes he actually has a damn crush on Harry.

 

Like—okay, so Harry’s talking to Zayn, right? And Zayn just doesn’t seem affected at all by Harry’s beauty or wonderful voice or anything and it…

 

It really bothers Niall that Zayn doesn’t notice it because Niall thinks Harry deserves all the love and affection in the world and he’s literally stabbing Zayn with his eyes and he didn’t even realize he was, but then Harry looks at him and gives him this look that basically begs him to stop.

 

And his face basically softens like, _right then_ , and Harry smiles after and his stomach does flips.

 

He has a fucking crush on Harry and Harry’s in love with Zayn who has a girlfriend and just—

 

Niall hates feelings; they’re a load of bullshit.

 

"What was that about?" Harry asks after he’s done talking to Zayn. He wants to tell him, he really does yeah, but it would be awkward because they’re buds and you don’t tell your bud you want to kiss his face off. You just don’t.

 

Even though Harry kissed Niall’s cheek the other day on the trampoline and Niall hasn’t stopped thinking about it since. That doesn’t count.

 

Thankfully though, he doesn’t have to even bother trying to answer Harry because Zayn gets up on a stool in the middle of the kitchen where everyone can see him and everyone is fucking terrified because they’re sure he’s going to fire a group of workers that weren’t up to par or something, but he has a smile on his face the size of the moon and Niall thinks maybe that’s not it.

 

Unless he’s happy about firing people and in that case, Niall swallows thickly.

 

"I have an announcement to make." He starts, before looking down at the ground and his smile grows even more and he shakes his head like he can’t believe what he’s about to say.

 

"So as many of you may know, I’ve been with my girlfriend Perrie for five years—" (Leigh-Anne, the head cook, shouts "that’s a long fucking time, Zayn!" and everyone laughs, even Zayn, and Niall hears someone near him say that he didn’t know he was even dating someone, he thinks it was Jesy. It makes him laugh.)

 

"And well, I proposed and she said yes!" Zayn finishes and everyone cheers and congratulates him and is just completely happy.

 

It’s cute really, but Niall’s face drops when he hears the news because _Harry_. He looks behind him once he realizes Harry’s not beside him anymore and spots Harry sitting on a counter clapping and he looks genuinely happy for Zayn. Niall’s confused so he pulls him off into a closet to talk to him privately.

 

"What’s wrong, Harry?" Niall asks once they’re fully inside the closet and the lights turned on. They can still hear the muffled sounds of people congratulating Zayn and some of the girls asking how he proposed.

 

"I should be the one asking you that, yeah? You pulled me into the closet!" Harry says laughing a bit. Niall realizes right then how small the closet actually is and how close he is to Harry and he tries to focus on his breathing.

 

"Well, Zayn just announced that he’s going to get married to Perrie and you’re completely fine with it?" Niall asks quickly because he needs to have this conversation, but he didn’t think this through at all. The closet was a bad idea.

 

"Yeah why wouldn’t I be?" Harry shrugs.

 

"Because you love him!"

 

"To be honest I don’t think I do anymore." Harry mumbles after too long of a pause between them and Niall’s heart soars.

 

But then he starts to really think about it and he’s ecstatic for Harry, yeah, because he’s finally over his huge crush on Zayn that was slowly killing him, but he’s kind of sad because he probably has a crush on someone else and it’s not him and it could be on some other straight guy.

 

Then he remembers Luke and wants to cry.

 

——

 

Turns out: Louis’ not gay.

 

Harry and Niall both thought he was, but he’s actually not? He always makes jokes about it and even tells them when he thinks the guy they’re checking out is, in fact, hot and, well.

 

It was a really confusing time when Niall first found out, but it happened two weeks after Zayn’s announcement when they’re all hanging out at Niall’s place.

 

Harry’s trying to tell him some joke about a plant and a spider that’s awfully boring and—Harry’s such an idiot, why does Niall even like him?

 

Niall tries to ignore the voice in the back of his head yelling that he knows exactly why he likes Harry because it’s completely right, he does.

 

Louis’ in the bathroom, so when his phone rings Niall gets up and walks away from Harry (“Heeey!”) to answer it for him.

 

"Hello?" Niall says into the phone.

 

"Hi, who is this?" A cute high-pitched voice comes from the other line.

 

"Who is this?" Niall asks back defensively a bit because he’s protective over his friends. He can’t identify the voice and he didn’t bother to check the caller ID like he should have. He’s hoping its Louis’ sister or something.

 

"Eleanor. Louis’ girlfriend?" The voice says and Niall’s whole body tenses. Okay, not his sister. But what the fuck? Why didn’t Louis tell them he was dating someone?

 

"Oh, I’m Niall—" He starts but Eleanor cuts him off.

 

"Oh! So you’re the Niall Louis keeps telling me about! It’s so nice to talk to you finally. I’ve been bugging the shit out of Louis to get him to introduce us for weeks." She says excitedly and it makes Niall smile a bit.

 

"That’s so sweet, darling; it’s so nice to talk to you too."

 

"What a gentlemen, haven’t heard ‘darling’ in a while." Eleanor laughs and Niall thinks she’s beautiful if she looks anything like her laugh sounds. "How is it with you and Harry?"

 

"Excuse me?" Niall asks a bit too harsh if he’s being honest, and it’s silent on the other line for a bit.

 

"You and Harry? Louis told me that you’re both in love with each other and I wanted to know how it’s going so far." She says slowly like she felt like she overstepped something that she didn’t realize was a thing, but it’s _not_ a thing so Niall feels kind of bad for snapping like that at her.

 

"Um—" Niall starts but Louis comes and takes the phone from him and gives Niall a death stare, but he has a bit of a smile on his lips so he knows it’s only a joke.

 

But still Niall walks away with this confused look on his face when Louis yells “Ellie!” down the phone like he hasn’t seen or heard from Eleanor in months and Niall wonders what on earth that girl was on about. And what the hell did Louis tell her exactly?

 

Obviously nothing is going on between Harry and him, Harry has a damn crush on Luke the giant garbage boy, not on Niall (it doesn’t count that Niall has a crush on Harry, nope).

 

And if Harry did have a crush on him Niall’s pretty darn sure he would’ve caught on because Harry’s not exactly subtle when it comes to his feelings.

 

Niall decides when he sits back on the couch next to Harry that Louis just might be as much of an idiot as Harry.

 

——

 

They’re all invited to the wedding that’s in a few months. Niall’s wary and Harry seems so fucking happy about it and Niall doesn’t know why.

 

Like, he was madly in love with Zayn not so long ago. Why is he so happy about seeing him go off and marry someone else?

 

Niall figures he just doesn’t get Harry and that he’s a weirdo.

 

Yeah, that works.

 

He’s, like, extremely excited about it too and goes with Niall to get his suit tailored and how the hell does Harry afford all of this? He keeps telling Niall he’ll pay for this and that and it’s sweet, but Niall can pay for it too.

 

Harry even picks the colour out for Niall’s tie like they’re getting ready for senior prom.

 

"I think it’ll make your eyes pop." Harry says as he holds the tie close to Niall’s eyes for a comparison. Niall’s not too sure about that, to be honest because he doesn’t think his eyes are the right shade of blue to really go with the dark purple and, fuck, what is he even saying?

 

Harry keeps talking about the wedding too and it’s actually really endearing how excited he is for it and his smile is so big and infectious that Niall can’t help but smile back just as big, even though his chest keeps tightening uncomfortably each time Harry mentions how much fun he’s going to have because he’s not going with Niall.

 

And Niall wants to go with him, he really does, but Harry already asked someone else to be his plus one obviously.

 

"It would be so nice to slow dance with—" Harry starts but Niall cuts him off.

 

“So who are you taking?” He asks and Harry just looks at him like he’s supposed to magically know. Niall stares back with furrowed eyebrows.

 

"Right. Um, never mind, I have work to do anyway, I’ll see you when I get on break again." Harry mutters, jumping down from off the counter and out the swinging doors. When he’s out of the room Louis looks at Niall with a bored expression.

 

"You know he thought he was bringing you?" He asks raising an eyebrow.

 

"What? No he didn’t."

 

"Yes he did. Why do you think he went with you to get your suit tailored _and_ picked out the colour of your tie for you? He wanted to match, doofus, and he even mentioned once that he thinks you would look really pretty in purple. I mean, why else would he constantly talk about it with you?” Louis asks swiveling side to side in his chair like what he’s saying is really no big deal.

 

And Niall thinks its shit because this totally is a big deal.

 

"Fuck." Niall breathes.

 

"You could’ve let him down easier, you know?"

 

"What! I didn’t know he was bringing me! He never asked and—" He sort of did actually. Harry asked who he was bringing one day and Niall told him that he wasn’t even sure he was going.

 

"Why not? We would have so much fun together." Harry had said, nudging his shoulder against Niall’s. He didn’t even have to think about it to agree with him—they would have the best time, honest to god, but he didn’t know it meant they were going together _together_.

 

"Yeah exactly. He’s a subtle guy about the asking part but not about his affections and all that shit." Louis mumbles and Niall just about pulls out his hair because how the hell did he not catch on at all?

 

——

 

Niall finds Harry in the staff room on his next break eating a sub and some chips and his mouth is literally stuffed to the brim with the food he’s eating. It shouldn’t be funny, but it is and Niall snorts.

 

"Don’t die." He says, startling Harry who ends up coughing and spitting out most of the food that was stuffed in his mouth before taking a big drink. Niall kind of wants to laugh harder or maybe cry a lot because it reminds him of the first time he ever met Harry and oh how things have progressed into this big mess of feelings.

 

"What the hell Niall?" Harry shouts after he’s calmed down a bit, but his eyes are still red and watery.

 

"Sorry, I just—I dunno. But hey I need to ask you something." Niall says sitting down in front of him.

 

"Only if you’ll buy me a cookie." Harry mumbles while grumpily cleaning off the table.

 

"I will later, but right now I need to ask you this thing and well—do you like me?" Harry stops what he was doing and looks up at him.

 

"Of course I like you Niall. I wouldn’t be friends with you if I—"

 

"No. I mean do you _like_ me?” Niall asks while raising his eyebrows and he sees the exact moment it clicks in Harry’s mind. His eyes flicker a bit and his nose turns red.

 

"Yeah." He whispers after just watching Niall for a bit.

 

"Then why didn’t you tell me you douche!" Niall whines while lightly hitting Harry on the arm.

 

"I dunno, I thought…I guess I thought you just knew? I mean you caught on to me when I liked Zayn, so I figured you would catch on again." Harry shrugs with this sad smile on his face that shows his dimples.

 

"What the hell? I feel like I let you down or something." Niall says while leaning back in his chair, his hands going up to his hair to mess with it a bit. Harry laughs but he still looks kind of sad and Niall notices. He leans forward on his elbows and watches Harry.

 

"Hey, why do you look so down?"

 

"Because you don’t like me back." Harry mumbles and Niall breathes out a disbelieving laugh.

 

"Are you kidding? I’ve liked you for the longest time, Jesus Christ." Harry laughs again and this time it sounds genuine and it fills Niall’s heart with warmth.

 

"So you’ll go to Zayn’s wedding with me?" Harry asks before biting his lip.

 

"I would love to." Niall says before leaning over the table and kissing Harry’s cheek. He gets up and starts walking away and Harry makes this sound of protest in the back of his throat.

 

"Where are you going?"

 

"To get my handsome date his cookie." Niall says before winking and walking out of the room.

 

——

 

At the wedding three weeks later, when Niall and Harry are standing at the alter with Zayn and Louis—Zayn decided that they would be the groomsmen and that Louis’ the best man and it makes Niall kind of feel even worse for not liking him all that much before—they playfully lean on each other when they think no one’s looking, but more times than not Niall catches Perrie smirking at them like she just knows.

 

And maybe she does, Niall wouldn’t be surprised considering Louis and Zayn are best friends and he’s marrying the girl, he’s sure they’ve probably talked about this. He’s also not surprised that he’s completely okay with it.

 

It kind of became a bit of a game, the leaning on each other. At one point Harry leaned over to Niall when he was taking a step back and nearly fell on his face. Niall tried to hide his laughter with his hand, but his face turning a bright red ended up giving it all away.

 

Oops.

 

The reception is beautiful, the whole wedding was, and it’s nice being able to hold Harry’s hand whenever he wants. Like right now.

 

"Perrie, I’d like you to meet Harry and Niall." Zayn says, his hand gently guiding the beautiful blonde in the stunning white dress over to them. Niall tries not to show how happy he is from the way it sounded when he said their names together like some sort of promise.

 

Perrie’s breathtaking, honestly, and she has a wonderful smile and a lovely voice. “It’s so nice to finally meet you!”

 

"It’s lovely to meet you too." Niall says, his middle finger playing with the ring Harry decided to wear that day.

 

Perrie smiles wide and her eyes drift down to their interlocked hands and her smile seems to get even wider. Niall squeezes Harry’s hand.

 

"How long have you been dating, then?" She asks her eyes finally leaving their hands. They both kind of look at each other and open and close their mouths like little fish. This is technically their first date, which is kind weird if they think about it.

 

"Um, not long?" Harry offers and Perrie seems to accept this if the nod she gives is anything to go by.

 

"Zayn told me you guys were madly in love for the longest time, I’m glad you’re finally together!" She says with a soft laugh and her hand resting against Zayn’s chest and leaning into his side. Zayn’s positively red all over and avoiding eye contact with everyone.

 

It’s funny and Niall laughs.

 

"Guess you can say we were." Niall says and he watches as Zayn visibly relaxes.

 

"Talk to you later." Zayn says, patting Harry on the shoulder before glancing at Niall and walking off. They decide to sit and when they do, Niall rests his head against Harry’s shoulder.

 

He’s slightly buzzed from the champagne and the feeling of being with Harry romantically and officially. It’s great and he decides that he doesn’t hate his job all that much anymore because it brought Harry into his life.

 

And when Niall kisses Harry’s cheek he blushes and looks down at his lap. It’s easily the cutest thing Niall’s ever seen and when he looks over to the dance floor and sees Louis cheering and Eleanor smiling all cutesy with her hands in front of her lips he figures he’s not the only one who thinks that.

 

Niall was right about Eleanor, she is just as beautiful as her laugh. She and Louis make a beautiful couple.

 

"They’re so in love." Harry mumbles to Niall when he does look up and watches Louis and Eleanor as they start to slow dance. Niall watches Harry.

 

He’s mentioned how pretty Harry is, right?

 

When Harry finally looks back at Niall, they both smile at each other and Harry squeezes Niall’s hand and it feels like everything’s right, like they’ve been doing this for years. Simple.

 

So fucking simple and it’s great for it to be simple because Harry needs that. Needs it to be simple as he comes out and Niall’s just so glad he’s able to do this and he thinks with how wonderful things are right now, he can help Harry with his parents and even keep his promise.

 

His promise of helping Harry piece himself back together even though he doesn’t need it, he just needs Niall there, that’s it honestly, and Niall’s fine with that too. As long as he gets to be there to kiss him when he wakes up the next morning and maybe he’s thinking too into the future, but he doesn’t care.

 

It feels like it’s been forever with Harry and Niall wouldn’t want that any other way. He just wants to have another forever with him and another and another.

 

Fuck, he’s so gone for Harry.

 

But when Harry pulls Niall onto the dance floor by his purple tie and presses close with a small, soft smile on his lips and sunshine eyes he thinks maybe Harry’s just as gone for him.

 

And fuck does that ever make his heart beat out of his chest.

 

The song changes to something slow and sweet and Niall watches as everyone starts grabbing onto someone and pressing in close before looking shyly back at Harry. It’s some cheesy love song that so easily gets stuck in Harry’s head, but it’s not horrible, and he kisses Niall on the cheek before wrapping his arms around his waist.

 

"I hate how tall you are." Niall mumbles as he wraps his arms around Harry’s neck. It makes Harry giggle a little before kissing his forehead lightly and staring down at him.

 

Niall has to go up onto his tippy toes to nuzzle his nose against Harry’s, but he doesn’t exactly mind and maybe Niall lied because he likes how safe he feels with Harry’s arms wrapped around him like this and how Harry’s able to rest his chin on top of his head after he rests it against Harry’s chest.

 

It makes Niall never want to let go and Harry reminds him that he doesn’t ever have to.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr if you like!!! i'm tomlinarry!!


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